By Evan Ackerman
The ZOMM is apparently the “world’s first wireless leash” for cell phones. It’s a little disky thing that you attach to your keychain, and it tethers itself to your cell phone via Bluetooth. If it gets separated from your phone by more than a preset distance, it beeps at you, which is its primary feature. It also works as a wireless speaker phone, and if you push the single button on the front, it will start shrieking and auto-dial emergency services.
In general, the ZOMM seems like a handy thing to carry around. It’s reasonably small (about the size of a poker chip) and offers a few handy features (although it really should have come with a flashlight button). The biggest problem is obvious: you have to remember to plug it in every few days (it charges via microUSB) or it won’t do you any good. This isn’t really a flaw in the device itself, unless you think it should be somehow solar powered, but when you’ve got a whole bunch of things to charge, the one that has a primarily passive function is going to inevitably get neglected. Also, the reason you’d get one of these (the anti phone loss leash bit) depends on your phone and your keys being very near each other all the time… This could be a problem unless it uses a class 3 receiver with a 100m range or something.
There are probably a bunch of details on this that aren’t apparent from the press release, but we should get a hands-on look at the ZOMM at CES which is OMG this week. The ZOMM is rumored to be priced at about $80.
Neat concept and perfect size. I just don't like the setup. What happens when I just want to take my phone? Is it easy to turn it off? Also how do you not lose both at the same time?
It looks like a mini roomba.
It looks like a mini roomba.
Neat concept and perfect size. I just don't like the setup. What happens when I just want to take my phone? Is it easy to turn it off? Also how do you not lose both at the same time?
It looks like a mini roomba.
It looks like a mini roomba.